[The Bow of the Great Eastern]

The bow of the "Great Eastern," still embedded in its matrix of scaffolding and timber, looms like a cliff over the marshy landscape of the Isle of Dogs. Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, arguably the greatest engineer of his time, the giant ship had been four years in the making and had generated unabated interest and controversy. Six hundred ninety-two feet in length and weighing 22,500 tons, it was six times the tonnage of any ship yet built and was to be propelled by all the technology then available--screw, paddle, and sail. Because of its size, it had to be moved sideways, foot by foot, and it would take an unprecedented three months to launch. Its success was seen as a matter of national pride, a confirmation of Britain's supremacy at sea.
Robert Howlett, a partner at the Photographic Institution, a leading professional studio in London, was commissioned by the "London Times" to document the ship's construction. He made this image sometime before November 3, 1857, the official day of the launching. On January 16, 1858, nine engravings based on Howlett's photographs were published in a special edition of the "Illustrated Times" devoted to the "Leviathan," as the ship was then known. A close variant of this image, dated November 2, 1857, is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.